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October 09, 2011

10*9*11 Trophy Kids

Trophy kids trailer
Chris Bell's new Documentary:
also did Bigger, Stronger, Faster I expect this to be great. It brings up some interesting questions and here are my thoughts on it.

This type of stuff blows my mind. I understand trainers taking advantage of a market like this. What I don't understand parents A. trying to live vicariously through there kids athletic achievements. B. Parents thinking that making your kid focus on a specific sport at 5 years old is going to do anything but burn the kid out.

I remember growing up and I think my brother an I were in circumstances that play out like this type of thing. We both earned scholarships to D1 schools for athletics and competed for 4 years and Andy went on to play in the NFL.

We always took sports seriously but we always played for us. There was never a push from our parents to play or compete in things we didn't want to and if there was it sure wasn't cause we were wasting an opportunity to play in college or professionally.

I keep using the word "play" and this is what is lost now . We both played everything growing up soccer, baseball, basketball, football, and track. These naturally filtered down to only playing basketball (rec league with friends for fun off season), football, and Track.

Parents are missing some key things kids just need to be outside playing period. Organized sports are good and I never remember a time that I wasn't participating is something. The purpose was to keep us from sitting around the house after school playing video games and being fat(which we both still managed to accomplish. We showed them.) Also it may be harsh but some kids are not cut out to play at the next level. There is no amount of pushing or special coaching that is going to accomplish this. I recommend kids playing sports and just having fun. If your kid is talented enough and has the desire to continue playing at whatever the next stage that is then it can be addressed if it what they want to do.

I just see this situation stealing childhood from so many. I am far from some liberal that thinks everyone needs to just have fun and play games with no score keeping. Competition is good and brings out peoples weaknesses or makes them better. I just can't imagine that when my kids becomes an adult that when he or she thinks back on youth athletics that they have any type of a sour taste in their mouths. I will be curious to see when this class of kids that have been pushed like this grow into adults and see what they do with their kids. I bet this fad of kids combines, and 5 year old NFL style camps will be gone.

4 comments:

matso-i agree and am looking forward to the documentary as well. i push most kids to play multiple sports...there us a trainer in the area that promotes speed agility and sports performance classes for 9-12 year olds! he is a thief and he is 100% garbage! i tell the parents of these kids to get them involved in other sports....dont play a sport all year.....(see the biggest con is baseball called "fall ball")....and parents??? yea...i got some stories for ya.....at Athlete's Arena we attempt to "manage expectations" of athletes and parents....chances are your kid wont be Derek Jeter....

This hits close to home with me. I have close friends that I would put the category of "Tard Parents". There are articles out there that show the life expectancy for a specific sport, for individuals. Studies show that 10yrs is, most commonly, when an athlete will lose interest in their sport; If he or she has been focusing on that sport, alone, since early childhood. Most of us know someone this has happened to, and it makes total sense that they would become "burned out". If you, yourself, show interest in sports/lifting/staying athletic, your children are highly likely to follow suit. It is natural for sons and daughters to be like their parents. My own nephew was pushed into playing pee-wee football at a young age (and I will say that he was a little badass) and now he is bitter toward the sport, due to bad coaching. This brings up another good point; The majority of pre-UIL sports are coached by parents who, most likely, do not have a grasp on coaching the intricacies of individual techniques. Though young athletes may learn basic rules, regulations, plays and positions, they will develop bad habits sprung from poor coaching. Muscle memory is hard to undo at any level, but is made harder when the bad habits were learned early in life. Some say it takes 500-800 reps to develop muscle memory, while it take 5,000-8,000 reps to undo, then relearn, habits. That being said, there are a few lucky youngsters who have stellar coaching at every level, but there is always a risk of burnout. You know that I have been coaching since I graduated and, even though it hasn't been long, I have seen a large number of both types of kids come through our system. I can say, without a doubt, that our most promising, athletic and coachable football players are those who did not start until the UIL(7th grade) level. The kids who were in Karate an Gymnastics are much more body conscious and athletic.Obviously there are going to be kids that suck no matter what they do. There is no need to make them regret ever being an athlete by shoving it down their throat. These "Turbo Dads" need to be punched in the tant. GUIDE your kids into being healthy and athletic... Let it be FUN for them, That will keep them interested. I, like Matt and Andy, was lucky enough to be a DI athlete. I was never pushed to compete in any sport as a youngster, but wound up playing soccer, baseball, basketball, bull riding, and was on the swim team. I did not get into track or football until I was able to play for my school, and these were the sports I was Recruited for out of high school. Sorry for the rant Matt, but its been a long ass day already

Wow, that post is hard to read... all over the place. Sorry for that, I was trying to write in-between classes while talking to one of the other coaches. Keep this blog going bro... it is pretty interesting, most days!